Category Archives: inscriptions

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If you want to make a direct link to just one inscription in the magnificent Clauss-Slaby database, here’s a way to do it. I should point out I found this out ages ago (I know not where, sadly, so anonymous credit is due), lost it, then rediscovered it!

The information on the inscription is conveyed to the database in the format of

A = corpusB = year/volumeC = number

like this (note that the %20 is essential in each case to pass a ‘space’ character – you can’t have spaces in URLs).

Introduction

Although Corbridge began in the 1st century AD as a standard military site with an attendant civilian presence, in the 2nd century it evolved into a civil site with a small, yet significant, military presence. Moreover, despite the proximity of Hadrian’s Wall, Corbridge was always more concerned with a) the crossing of the Tyne by Dere Street; b) access to Caledonia via Dere Street; and finally c) the Stanegate itself. Consequently, these three factors need to be borne in mind when considering its inscriptions.

The fact that a remote ecclesiastical site, Hexham, is a major source for inscriptions from the site reflects its proximity to Corbridge and the convenience of deriving worked stone from the Roman site. There is no guarantee that inscriptions from Hexham derive from Corbridge, but it is on balance more likely than any of the other nearby sites, such as Chesters, due to the monumental nature of both the architectural and textual contributions amongst the assemblage.

RIB 1129:Ἡρακλεῐ / Τνρίω(ι) / Διοδώρα / ἀρχιέρια (‘For Heracles of Tyre, Diadora the priestess (set this up)’). Altar found before 1702 in Corbridge, moved to churchyard. Now in the British Museum. Source: RIB I p.372

RIB 1138:Victoriae / Aug(ustae) / L(ucius) Iul(ius) Iuli[anus] / […]us [… (‘For the Victory of the Emperor, Lucius Iulius Iulianus…’). Altar found before 1732 in a cottage near The Hermitage E of the confluence of the N and S Tynes. Source: RIB I p.376

RIB 1139:Deo / Veteri (‘For the god Veteris’). Altar found E of Site 11 in 1936. Source: RIB I p.376

RIB 1158:…]ce / [leg(io) II Au]g(usta) / [fec(it)] (‘… the Second Legion Augusta (built this)’). Building stone found before 1855 at Corbridge, now built into shop W of marketplace. Source: RIB I pp.382-3

RIB 1169:coh(ortis) VIIII c(enturia) Ma/rci Coma(ti) (‘Ninth Cohort, the century of Marcius Comatus (built this)’). Centurial stone found in 1885, now built into W end of nave of Hexham Abbey. Source: RIB I p.385

RIB 1170:Iulian/us (‘Iulianus’). Building stone found on Site 43. Source: RIB I p.385

RIB 1177:D(is) M(anibus) / miles / leg(ionis) II [Aug(ustae)] / [… (‘For the immortal shades, a soldier of the Second Legion Augusta …’). Tombstone found before 1907 in the Vicar’s Pele in Corbridge. Source: RIB I p.387

Analysis

Corbridge is one of the few sites in the Hadrian’s Wall region where history and archaeology collide head-on. This is a product of its strategic location – at the junction of the Stanegate and Dere Street, just by a major Tyne crossing – and the intensive campaign of excavation that began in 1906 and continued, with interruptions, until 1980.

The religious dedications give us a good idea of just how cosmopolitan a place Corbridge was. The deities represented include Apollo Maponus (1120-2), Mercury (1123, 1133), Astarte (1124, in Greek), Diana (1126), Minerva (1134), Heracles of Tyre (1129, also in Greek), Jupiter (1130-1), Mars Ultor (1132), Panthea (1135), Silvanus (1136), Sol Invictus (1137), and Veteris (1139-41). More militarily derived deities include Concordia (1125), Discip(u)lina (1127-8), and Victoria (1136). Notable by their absence are Cocidius and Mithras. The presence of pairs of legionary detachments in the compounds south of the Stanegate is most poignantly indicated by that dedication to Concordia (‘harmony’) between the Sixth and Twentieth Legions, but it is difficult to interpret that in any other way than the most pessimistic and see it as indicative as extreme rivalry, if not outright conflict, between the two detachments.

The various building inscriptions tell us something of what was happening to Corbridge as it developed from a turf and timber fort with a small associated civil settlement into a town with a legionary enclave. The Second Legion Augusta are seen rebuilding the stone granaries in AD 139–40 (1147–8), whilst a building inscription of AD 163–6 (1137) includes a (deleted) dedication to Sol Invictus by a detachment of the Sixth Legion, building under Calpurnius Agricola, possibly the occasion when construction of Site 11 began. The same legion is mentioned in other inscriptions (1159-63) and we know the Twentieth Legion constructed the ornamental fountain (Site 8) next to the granaries (1164) and they are recorded elsewhere (1165–7). The Second Legion Augusta is represented by a dedication on a statue base (1127) and a relief (1154) depicting their vexillus (sic), as well as on various building stones (1155–8). Severus’ northern campaign is reflected in an inscription set up by a praepositus in charge of granaries during ‘the Most Fortunate British Expedition’ (1143) and the construction of a granary by a legionary detachment (1151). We may also note in passing a building stone (1186) from a cohort (possibly the First) of Lingones (the First were at High Rochester in the Antonine period and Lanchester in the 3rd century).

Finally, the tombstones reveal some of the inhabitants to us. From its days as a fort, the tombstone of Flavinus (1172) is a fine example of the Reiter type of relief, with a cavalryman of the ala Petriana riding down a cowering barbarian. The tombstone of Barathes, a standard bearer (vexillarius), often equated with the husband of Regina, recorded on a tombstone (RIB 1065) from South Shields. The stone of a lefionary of the Sixth Legion (1175) has heirs with distinctly eastern-sounding names, possibly reflecting a sojourn in the East during the Antonine period for that unit, perhaps also attested in the dedication to Sol Invictus (1137). The civil population is highlighted by three child tombstones from the site, one each of 6 (1182), 5 (1180), and 4 years old (1181), all little girls.

Mapping the inscriptions of the Wall

For the last year or so, PLV has been tweeting and blogging the geolocated inscriptions of Hadrian’s Wall, revealing something of their spatial, social, and historical context. As we went on our merry way, they were mapped in chunks onto Google Maps. However, when it comes to showing you a map of all of them, it is not so easy.

Google Maps only allows a certain number of placemarkers on the screen at any one time. Their new Map Engine Lite will allow all of them on the screen (see above) but cannot be embedded here on wordpress.com, so that image is just a screenshot.

Likewise, Geocommons, which provides a really stylish map, cannot be embedded here. However, both can be embedded on the sister Per Lineam Valli atlas website, so they have been put there and you will have to content yourselves with these screenshots.

Mural epigraphy

Think of the inscriptions of Hadrian’s Wall as being like those plastic ducks (and other buoyant bath-time fun chums) that were washed overboard from a container ship in 1992. They are markers. The ducks revealed the subtleties of worldwide ocean currents, and the inscriptions from the Wall zone reveal how that former frontier defence has been spread around the landscape. Field walls, farm buildings, religious houses, and outbuildings all have their fair share of these manuports.* I am frequently asked where Hadrian’s Wall has gone and my standard response is that it is still all around, just slightly rearranged.

RIB 1428

Of course, they are also an invaluable primary record of the activities of the people of Roman Britain. Their accomplishments, lives, and loves are writ large on the local stone. Like the roughly squared facing stones of the Wall themselves, they are competent, if not outstanding, in their execution. Some are touchingly crude, whilst others are haughtily formal. Before the Vindolanda Tablets became a much-loved treasure, these were the nearest we got to knowing how the local people around the Wall thought and communicated. The stilted, formal phraseology contrasted with the struggles with spelling and grammar that are so often evident.

RIB 2003

The back-breaking labour of constructing the Wall is relayed to us in the abrupt shorthand of the centurial stones, whilst the observances of the military calendar of the garrison units is conveyed through countless commanding officers dedicating altars to the standard, and some not-so-standard, deities. At the same time, the superstitions of the population are hinted at in offerings to minor deities. The ethnic mix of the Wall population is also clear to see, both in names, places of origin, and deities worshipped.

RIB 1444

It is also worth recalling what we do not have. The organic epigraphy from the initial construction of the Turf Wall is one of the major missing components. One tiny fragment of a monumental inscription on wood survives from Milecastle 50TW, hinting at what is missing from 30 miles on the western side of the Tyne-Solway isthmus. At the very least, that is 60 milecastle and 24 fort gateway inscriptions, as well as all the intervening centurial records (if they too were in timber). The archaeological record is inevitably biased towards stone inscriptions, but it also presents us with the occasional ‘uninscribed’ item, such as the milestone still to be seen to the west of Great Chesters fort. Finds from Jordan show us that milestones could have painted inscriptions alone and the date distribution of British examples (largely 3rd to 4th century AD) suggests they may also have been just painted in this manner in the first two centuries after the Roman invasion and not inscribed into the surface of the stone until later.

Uninscribed milestone west of Great Chesters

So, with these things in mind, head out to one of the museums where you can see some Hadrian’s Wall inscriptions and let the Romans talk to you.

Chesters museum

Museums

You can find some goodly chunks of mural epigraphy at a number of museums:

Postscript

Until now, users of RIB have had to content themselves with the hard-to-obtain hardback books or some rather indifferent texts on the web. Now a full online version is in preparation. I have seen it and it is gorgeous, does lots of things a book just can’t do (calm down, book fetishists!), and promises to be an invaluable tool to all lovers of epigraphy. Hold yourselves in readiness …

* A manuport is something that has been carried away from its place of origin by hand. Thus each stone of Hadrian’s Wall starts out as a manuport, having been brought from a nearby quarry, but then has to suffer the further indignity of being moved again when reused, and yet again when carted off to a museum!

Analysis

There are two inscriptions (2057-8) set up by Sulpicius Secundianus, the tribune in charge of the double-strength infantry cohort based at Bowness in AD251-3. Unfortunately, he did not mention which unit he was commanding. The Notitia Dignitatum is no help as it does not include Maia (Bowness) in its list of commands per lineam valli. Otherwise, we are left wondering whether Antonianus ever gilded the lettering on his altar (2059). It survives (in Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery) and seems decidedly gold-free. Must have been a bad year after all.

Inventory

RIB 2055:Matri/bus suis / milite[s] / [… (‘For their own mother goddesses, the soldiers…’). Altar found before 1834 SE of Bowness. Now built into farm building in village. Source: RIB I p.629

Analysis

We find the Second Legion building the Stone Wall here (2054), presumably during the initial replacement of the Turf Wall, whilst the altar for the mother goddesses now at Port Carlisle (2055) probably comes from the nearby Milecastle 79.

Analysis

The two stones erected by the Seventh and Eighth Cohorts (2051-2) must date to the replacement of the turf fort with the stone one (although it is possible they may equally derive from the curtain wall). The stone (2053) recording work by the Vindomoruci (presumably from the area around Vindomora, modern Ebchester in County Durham) on the other hand probably belongs to the Severan rebuild, when tribal levies are found at work.

Introduction

The paucity of inscriptions from this stretch probably reflects the fact that some three miles of the Wall across Burgh Marsh have never been detected and may not have been available to be robbed for building stone. It is difficult to believe that there were any fewer inscriptions here than elsewhere along Hadrian’s Wall.

Inventory

RIB 2049:ICI[..] / […]I[.] / […]II[..] (‘?’). Building stone found before 1732 in Burgh by Sands. Source: RIB I p.628

Analysis

With only two inscriptions available from the Burgh-nbby-Sands to Drumburgh stretch, and only one of those (2050) legible, it is difficult to draw conclusions about this particular epigraphic corpus. It is interesting to note that the Sixth Legion appear to be viewing the mother goddesses in much the same way as the Lares and Penates, in a domestic role. This altar was found near Milecastle 73, just east of Burgh Marsh, and once more may reflect a legionary detachment acting in a garrison role.